Adopt a Italian Greyhound (short coat)

Faelynn is a blue and white female Italian Greyhound puppy, born on 07/26/2016.  She came to IPR at only 7 weeks old due to a life-long congenital defect affecting the nerves and muscles that control swallowing known as MegaEsophagus.  Her breeder was unable to give her the care she needed, and decided that it was best to allow her to come to IPR where we have alot of experience with managing this specific condition (we have a life resident IG with ME here as well, in addition to a poodle with severe ME, we are no strangers to megaesophagus at IPR!).  

When she arrived here, she had pneumonia and was small for her age, and was having trouble getting much down, but is quickly catching up with proper management now that we have found a food consistency and schedule that works well for her.  She has had contrast X-rays done to rule out PRAA and has been under the expert care of Cottonwood Animal Hospital, who has determined her condition is primary generalized congenital megaesophagus, meaning she was born with this condition affecting the entire length of her esophagus and there are no other underlying conditions causing it.

 She will need to be fed in a special feeding chair known as a Bailey Chair for life (Her Bailey Chair will go to her forever home with her), and is very diet sensitive.  We have only found one flavor of one brand of canned food she does well with at this time, but as she becomes bigger and stronger we will continue to experiment to see if we can find other foods she can tolerate well.  

She is always going to need special care, and will always be more prone to aspiration pneumonia then other dogs due to this condition but we can teach the new owner how to reduce these risks and care for her properly.   The majority of dogs with megaesophagus do very well with proper management and care and live normal healthy lifespans.  Most pass away from conditions completely unrelated like any other dog, ME does not have to affect the life span in any way when properly managed.

Despite having ME, other then meal times, Faelynn is a normally happy little IG puppy.  She is potty pad trained and working on becoming fully house trained.  She knows how to walk on a leash, and will be starting basic puppy manners classes soon.    

Faelynn is a happy active little girl.  Like most Italian Greyhounds, she is very people oriented but also prefers to have another dog around.  Homes with another Italian Greyhound in the home will be perferred, but another dog close to her size in the home will be a requirement for Faelynn.  We do not feel like she would do well as the only dog.  She gets along great with other dogs, cats, and kids, however she is only 4 pounds at 6 months old, she is always going to be a very tiny IG.   So we will not adopt her to homes with kids under 12, homes with large active dogs, or where young children visit frequently.  We are also going to require there be another dog of similar size in the home, as she does not like being alone and prefers to have a dog her size to play with.

Faelynn has now been spayed, is current on age appropriate vaccines, microchipped, and comes with all her medical records, feeding chair, as well as life long support.  

WE DO NOT SHIP DOGS UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES.  Anyone interested in Faelynn must be able to come do a meet and greet in person prior to finalizing the adoption process.  We do accept out of state applications in most cases, but we will not adopt Faelynn out of state to anyone who does not have prior experience with megaesophagus and/or a vet who is very familiar with this disease when we talk to them about the care she requires, if you do no already have a vet that's very familiar with this condition, and are not local, your application will not be approved, this is a LIFE LONG management challenge, and if not managed appropriately, it will result in a short life for Faelynn.  Due to her size traveling in the cabin of a plane may be possible to get her to a forever home, but only to approved adopters with prior experience with ME due to the challenges in providing hands on support to adopters that are out of our area and to far away to give that level of support and training to.   Prior experience with Megaesophagus is STRONGLY preferred, homes with that have no experience with the breed or this disorder will not be considered.

We also require a home visit as well as vet and personal references.  In Faelynn's case we are also only going to accept applications from applicants who are home the majority of the time or have the ability to take her to work with them.  Due to her medical condition, she will always do best with multiple smaller meals a day.  We currently are feeding her 4 times a day and realize this schedule would be very difficult for those who work outside the home during the day and can't have her with them at work.

Faelynn's adoption fee will be $500 to offset some of the costs of the medical care she has already received and will continue to receive until we find the perfect forever home for her.  Megaesophagus dogs can live long healthy lives, but they do take a substantially greater amount of work and care then your average dog.